Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-05-29
CHAPTER XVI.
PRETORIA.

PRETORIA.
Jess did not have q very happy time OF
it at Pretoria previous to the outbreak OF
hostilities. Most people who have made
a great moral effort, and after a severe
mental struggle entered on the drear path
of self-sacrifice, have experienced the re-
action that will follow as certainly rs the
night follows the day. 1t is one thing TO
the light, to stand in the full glow
of the setting beams of our imperial Joy
and chant out our farewell, and quite an
other to live alone in the darkness. For n
little while memory may support us, but
memory grows faint. On every side Is the
thick, cherries pail and the stiffness
through which no sound comes We are
alone, quite alone, cut off from the fellow
ship ofthe day, unseeing and unseen. More
especially is this so when our dungeon Is OF
our own making, and we ourselves have
shot its bolts. There is Il natural night
that m to all, and in its unwaverlng
course swallows every hope and fear, for
ever and forever. To this We can more
easily resign ourselves, for we recognize the
universal lot and bow ourselves beneath
the all-efacing hand. The earth does not
pine when the daylight passes from its
peaks; it only sleeps.
But Jess had buried herself, and she
knew it. There was no absolute need for
her to have resigned her affection to her
sisters; she had done so of her own will,
and ut times she naturally enough regretted
it. %Self-denial is n stern-faced angel. IT
ONLY we hold him fast and wreStle with
him long enough he will speak us soft
words of happy sound, just rs, If We wait
long enough in the darkness OF the night,
stars will come to share u loneliness.
Still this is one of those things that Time
hides from us and only reveals at his own
pleasure; and, so far as Jess was concerned,
his pleasure was not yet. Outwardly, how
ever, she showed no sign Of distress and OF
the passion which was eating at her heart.
She was male and silent, it is true, but then
she had always been remarkable for her
pallOr an silence. Only she gave up her
singing.
And so me weeks went on, dTearily
enough for the poor girl, who was doing
W & other people did-eatinga and drink
in. riding ard going to parties like She
rest ~ the PretOrip world, till mt last she
began To think tha. she had better he going
home again, lest she should wear ont her
welcome. And yet she dreaded to dO SO.
II Indul Of hel daily prayer to he delivered
fJn iemDta ion. As 10 shat was going
on A. MOc iOnteIu Sh" vaS in almost COM
plrir Ignorance. BesvH wrote TO her, Of
COURSE, and % die her uncle once OF twice,
but they did not tell t' much Ot what she
wanted tn know. Be,,i:'s letters were, it
it true, full Of all IsiOns Ia what Captain
Mel was doing, bat she did not go beyond
that. der r%etiCcnce, however, to-. her
OhServant sister more than her words.
Wbv was she so retiCent? No dc" Ut be
cause things ill hung in the b llnce.
And then she would think of what it all
meant for her, and now and again give
way to an OutburSt OF passionate jealousy
which would have been painful enough to
witness if anybody could have been there
to see it.
And 80 the time went on towards Christ
mas, for jess, having been warmly pressed
10 do 50. had settled Ia stay ,ver Christmas
and retu to the farm with the new year.
There had been Il great deal Of talk in the
town about the Beers, hut she was too
much p~reOccup.ei with her W affairs to
pay much attention to it.. Nor, indeed,
vas the public mird greatly moved; they
vure 20 much iccuS .Oulcd t. Boz scare at
reJOril, and hitherto they had III
.arurl, ndet in snDke nd til m
IL p. . sudden Il he rulng If ia"
18TH Cf December, cama IT, n, W. Of ne
proclamation of the republic, aud the town
was thrown into 4 ferment, and there was
a talk of going into laager, and anxious as
she was to get away, Jess could seeno hope
of returning to the farm till the excite
ment was over. Then q day or two later
Conductor EgertOn came limpiDg into Pre-
tOria from the scene of the disaster at
Bronker's Spruit, with the cOlOrs o. the
Ninety-fOurth reg nett tied round his
middle, arl such tale TO tell that the
blood went 10 her he's. a scens 70
staguatr there as she stenet to 1t
Aud aft IT tha therC vas confusion y Ere
coulOupdei. Narti4. INV AS proclaimed,
and the iOu n, which vas .aTge, strugg' NJ
a. | Incapable OG ~letense, was ab4n0Ousd
til inhabitants being ordered into anger
o. the high ground overlooking the city.
There were young and old. sick and we'll,
delicate women and little children, Ill
crowded together in the open under the
cover of the fort, with nothing hut canvas
tents wagons and sheds to shelter them
from the fierce simmer u N and rains.
Jess had to share a wagon with her friend
and her friends sister aud mother, and
found it rather q tight tt even to lie down.
Sleep, with all the noises of the camp
going on round her. was Il practical i'm
possibility.
1t was about 3 o'clock on the day follow
ing that first miserable night in the laager
when by the last mail that passed into
Pretoria, she got Bessie's letter announcing
her engagement to John. She took her
letter and went some way from the camp
TO the side of Signal Hill, where she was
not likely to be disturbed, and finding @
nook shaded in by mimosa trees, sat down
and broke the envelope. Before she got
to the foot of the first page she saw what
was coming and set her teeth. Then she
read the long letter through from begin
ming to end without fiinChlng, though the
words of affection seemed to burn her. So
it had come at last. Well, she expected
it, and had plotted to bring it abOut so
really there vas no reason in the world
why she should feel disappointed. On the
contrary, she ought to rejoice, and for q
little while she really did rejoice in her
sisters happiness. 1t made her happy to
think that Bessie. whom she dearly loved,
was happy.
And yet she felt angry with John with
that sort of anger which We feel against
those who have blindly injured us. Why
should he have it in his power to hurt her
so? Still she hoped that he wOHld be happy
with Bessie, and then she hoped that these
wTetGhed Beers would take PTetoris, and
that she would be shot OF put out of the
way somehow. She had no heart foT life;
all the color had faded from her sky. What
was she to do with herself? She would
not stop on the the farm after John and
Bessie were married; she was quite clear